Marcy Stanczyk serves as the Senior Vice President – Treasurer at Sargento Foods Inc.  She has been at Sargento for 26 years in a variety of Finance & Accounting roles.  Her responsibilities include banking relationships and overseeing cash management, as well as Credit & Collections functions.  She plans to retire in the first quarter of 2018; she is starting to get things organized and ready for that event! Marcy joined Professional Dimensions in 2007 and really enjoys the dinner meetings, especially the progressive dinners. She praises the great networking opportunity and a chance to relax and have stimulating conversations with fellow members. 

Marcy was asked to indicate what she believes to be a very important leadership trait. Her reply is humility: “The most effective leaders are humble, kind, and treat all with dignity and respect.”  This seems to tie in with her favorite advice: “Accentuate the positive. Try to find the good in all people and situations.” 

Stanczyk is married with two adult daughters – one works for PWC in Boston and one is in graduate school at the University of Minnesota. They are a tennis family. Marcy and her husband met through tennis and their daughters played high school tennis together. Their youngest daughter also played college tennis. 

In addition to tennis, Marcy enjoys travel and biking. She has loved her travels in Europe, especially Spain and Italy.  Australia is on her bucket list and hopes to attend the Australian Open Tennis Championships in the near future! 

Another favorite is watching the TV show “House of Cards.”  She had thought perhaps she would lose interest in the fictional politics, but with the current state of affairs in Washington, she still loves the show. 

When headed out for a memorable meal, her favorite restaurant is Lake Park Bistro for Sunday brunch. “The view is beautiful and the food is incredible!”

As she needs to commute about 40 minutes to work to Plymouth each day, Marcy considers

WTMJ Radio her number one source of news. In addition, she enjoys reading the Wall Street Journal for business news.

When asked what famous person she would like to meet, Marcy said it would be Oprah.  She finds her incredibly interesting & thinks she would be a lot of fun to spend time with!

The last book Marcy read was Nutshell, by Ian McEwan. The book is a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet from the perspective of a fetus!

 Stephanie Anderson is the co-founder and Executive Vice.  President of Creative Business Interiors, a 26-year-old.  business interiors firm with showroom operations in. Milwaukee and Madison. They design, build and furnish. business interiors of all types using their own on-staff carpenters, painters, and furniture installers. They are an interior general contractor that designs and works inside existing structures, specializing in remodeling and furnishing business facilities. They have about 100 employees; many in design, project management, and business development.

What keeps Stephanie busy during the work day is mentoring and strategizing with the Account Executives and various project teams. Most of the projects have very aggressive timeframes and are quite complex. She attends a lot of client meetings in both the Milwaukee and Madison markets. She manages the Account Execs, working closely with the department managers. Anderson develop the messaging for their marketing and most of the training materials.

In her involvement with Professional Dimensions, Stephanie likes to attend meetings, especially Sacagawea. She is a member of the Small Business Owners Special Interest Group and wishes she had more time to participate in some of the other activities. 

The leadership traits that Stephanie most admires is a person who is trust worthy. She describes that person as: “There’s so much that affects whether people can trust their leader. A trustworthy leader puts enough time in to prepare before speaking so they really know their topic. They think before responding and stay calm rather than reacting emotionally. You can tell a trustworthy leader something in confidence and they won’t use it against you or share it with others. Trustworthy leaders are inclusive, honorable, and are good at developing others.” The best advise Stephanie has received is to notice when people do things right. She also believes it is important to keep a gratitude journal so you don’t forget the things that you are thankful for.

Anderson has been married for 30 years to a wonderful and very caring man (Wayne) and they have one daughter (Lexi) who just turned 21. Stephanie loves to cook, read, do yoga three times a week. Other hobbies have been put on hold for quite some time, but she makes jewelry and sews and really wants to paint. She would also like to get back into music. She played the flute for years and wants to learn to play piano if she should ever find the time!

To keep up with news, Stephanie likes to follow Fox News. For personal reading, she takes in alternative health books and business books. The last book she read is “The Power Formula for Linked In Success” by Wayne Breitbarth. She is about to read “My Two Elaines” by Martin J. Schreiber which is about the journey of the caregiver of a wife with Alzheimer’s. Her father recommended it. The person she would most like to meet is Brene Brown, an author and speaker, whom she finds very interesting.

On the local dining scene, Stephanie loves Mason Street Grill. They have live music on the weekends. Someday, Stephanie hope to travel to Hawaii and Alaska.

Meet Victoria Walker: Victoria joined PD in 2015. Sheis Assistant Vice President/Branch Manager for U.S. Bank, Brown Deer Branch. She loves assisting customers with their financial needs. Her day consists of motivating, developing, supporting and coaching her team members to succeed in their roles. 

Walker is new in becoming involved with Professional Dimensions and has enjoyed attending the Bon Appetit Special Interest Group, which tries new restaurants every six weeks or so. At the latest Bon Appetit dinner at Third Coast Provisions, she heard many suggestions from other members on ways to become more involved in PD. 

Victoria’s leisure time is spent with her husband and walking their two dogs, Kolby, a Westie Terrier and Prince, a Cocker Spaniel. She reads the Milwaukee Business Journal and watches MSNBC to keep up with business and world news. Her favorite Milwaukee restaurant is Texas Roadhouse. When asked what is the best advice that she has been given, Victoria reports that it is to always treat people with respect and kindness. 

Professional Dimensions focused on “A happy community” as its final theme for the 2016-2017 year. Walker said that a happy community is one that is vibrant with activities attractive to visitors and residents. Victoria is also happy when she is shopping!

Meet new member Hope Liu: education professional, political activist, mother and wife. Hope is the Dean of the newly created School of Continuing and Online Learning at Cardinal Stritch University. As Dean, she is the strategy leader for the university’s online programs and courses. She collaborates with the other four Colleges to ensure that their online programs are of high quality and that their faculty are prepared to teach online. 

In her words, “I would say that my approach to higher education’s “business” is a little different. I don’t see boundaries for education. I like to experiment with curriculum design that works for any one of our diverse learners - our traditional Bachelor’s degree seeking students, our graduate students, regardless of whether they want to take their courses online or not. I like thinking about the forces of change acting on higher education and creating options that respond to those changes, anticipate the direction of higher ed, but also maintain a valuable experience for the learner. It’s tricky juggling all the variables and coming up with a solution, but I enjoy working with my team to generate new ideas and approaches that work for our learners.” 

Hope joined PD in December after being recruited by Theresa Reagan (they worked together previously at Children’s Hospital of WI). Hope recently started the Stritch Community Online Partnership (SCoOP) which encourages civic and arts organizations, and other non-profits to work with the School to use its technology and expertise to put their courses online. Some of their current partners are the Milwaukee Public Museum, the Milwaukee Zoo, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and, Make a Difference Wisconsin, led by PD’s Brenda Campbell.

After attending the Women’s March in Washington, DC, Hope became co-leader of the North Shore Huddle. Initially planned to be a group of 10-12, it now is a hub of activism for 175+ folks who live on the North Shore. Her commitment to keeping the members informed and engaged knows no bounds.

In reflecting on PD’s “Happiness in the community” series, Hope states “I think a happy community is one in which all members are healthy. And by healthy I mean they are safe. They are cared for. Their mental, emotional and spiritual needs are met and also challenged so they may grow. Healthy means that people are accepted as they are and can accept others for who they are. Everyone has the ability to become the best person possible through acceptance and support and working together. It’s a belief in the best of each other.”

Hope is married to CJ Wauters, an attorney at Godfrey and Kahn. They are parents to a daughter, Ellie, who is 6. Top news sources: CNN and JS Online. Favorite SE WI restaurant and/or bar: “I can’t believe I have to pick one...La Merenda because it’s lively, casual, and the food variety is amazing.”